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Statement eyes and lips

Never walk under a ladder. Never show cleavage if your hem rides above the knee. Don’t sport fancy eye make-up with a statement lip. Accepted laws

of aesthetic conduct have more in common with superstition than a realistic design for modern living but rules are there to be broken.

Spring’s catwalks saw a beauty about-turn on lips and eyes: at YSL, charcoal cocoons were worn with a berry stain; at Jaeger, a pretty peachy lid was complemented by a matching lip-gloss, while at Moschino Cheap & Chic, lilac lids were offset with a sugary pink lip. By throwing down the colour gauntlet, the catwalk defies preconceptions of the eye-plus-lip duo as clown-like, drag-like or doll-like and inspires us to step forward into the unknown. I took my cue from a Ladurée pistachio macaroon and wore it with a poppy-red lip (against that maxim that ‘red and green should never be seen’).

After the initial giddiness of colour on my face, I felt very ‘done’ – to the point of wincing at my reflection in the fridge at Pret. Prying eyes darted to my eyes, lips, then back again. And who could blame them? There was a lot to look at. Eye-plus-lip is simply a question of balance. Push the lip then pull back on the eyes and vice versa. Rules aren’t all bad.